Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. I have been battling a nasty cold the past week, a coughing and hacking sort of bug that has had me mostly out of action. I did have one fresh harvest for the week, which was a cutting of some mizspoona from the greenhouse that went into a frittata my wife whipped up for lunch one day. Mizspoona Salad Select is a mizuna/tatzoi cross that Adaptive Seeds says “resembles a dark green monster Mizuna more than Tatsoi.” It is good both raw and cooked, and it certainly added some green to the frittata (which apparently was camera shy).
mizspoona harvest for frittata
One thing I did before I got sick was cook the last neck pumpkin (aka Penn. Dutch Crookneck Squash). I should say I cooked the only one, since one is all I harvested last year. It was a terrible year for winter squash here, and the neck pumpkin made the worst showing since I began growing it back in 2010. Still, it did give us one fruit, which is more than I can say for a lot of squash varieties I grew last year. The neck was starting to shrivel a little and I wanted to use it before it started to rot.
baking neck pumpkin
We use this moschata type squash the same as we do butternut squash. According to Amy Goldman in her book The Compleat Squash, the neck pumpkins were the forerunners of the butternuts, whose more compact shape made them better suited for shipping. After baking this one, I pureed the flesh and used it to make a sauce for a batch of Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna Rolls. I used some of our frozen spinach to make the stuffing. This recipe makes a lot, and we freeze leftovers which make for an easy meal when a side veggie is added.
lasagna rolls using neck pumpkin
I’m going to follow Michelle’s lead and start scheduling my HM posts earlier, right after midnight CST. I generally have the post wrapped up by Sunday evening, so there’s no reason not to get it posted so folks can start linking up.
Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And be sure and check out what everyone is harvesting!
Having the garden space, time and energy to plant a wide variety of veggies does your readers a service. Though our growing climates may be different you acquaint us with new varieties and lesser known standards. Thanks!
That sounds like a terrible cold, hopefully you’ll feel better soon. There’s some really bad colds going around this year. Don’t let it turn into bronchitis.
Your lasagna rolls look delicious. I’m going to try growing lots of different varieties of winter squash this year including my old standby, green striped cushaw.
I have a few squash left in the basement as well (mostly ones from the farm) & noticed that one of the butternut is also getting a bit wrinkled. I think I’ll try your lasagna recipe – it will make for a good change from using the squash for soups and stews.
I hope you are feeling better very soon!
I think the butternut sauce is good with any pasta, including ravioli. It makes a nice alternative to tomato or cream based sauces.
I thought I would be last to join the party, but I see that you have changed the timings! You have done well to make the squash last as long as it did. I’m beginning to wish I had something long-lived like that to fall back on, now that my PSB and Brussels Sprouts are close to finished.
At the moment we are looking out for squash recipes. With all the damp this year I don’t think they will store as long as they did last year.
Yes please to that delicious looking lasagne!
Hope you’re feeling better. I was sat next to a colleague who was coughing and sneezing all day so I’m hoping that I don’t catch it.
That’s a nice looking squash – it looks quite large? I love squash with pasta. I’ve never tried lasagna “rolls” before, seems handy if you plan to freeze some of it.
Feel better soon!
Nice work on the squash, the lasagne looks great! Get well soon.